"I'd rather not go, papa; please don't make me," pleaded Lulu.
"My child, it is not I, but the law that insists," he said; "but you need not feel disturbed over the matter; you have only to tell a straightforward story of what you heard and saw and did in connection with the attempted robbery.
"I am very glad, very thankful," he went on, "that I have always found my little daughter perfectly truthful."
"Max too, papa."
"Yes, Max too; and when you give your testimony I want you to remember that God—the God of truth, who abhors deceit and the deceitful, and who knows all things—hears every word you say."
Taking up her Bible and opening it at the twenty-fourth psalm, he read, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."
Then turning to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."
Closing the book and laying it aside, "My dear children," he said earnestly and with grave tenderness, "you see how God hates lying and deceit; how sorely he will punish them if not repented of and forsaken. Speak the truth always though at the risk of torture and death; never tell a lie though it should be no more than to assert that two and two do not make four.
"Be courteous to all so far as you can without deceit, but never, never allow your desire to be polite to betray you into words or acts that are not strictly truthful."
The children were evidently giving very earnest heed to their father's words.